An accounting clerk at Parkway Mitsubishi in LaGrange was sentenced to 10 years’ probation for stealing $17,000 from the dealership.

Delena Lea Cash, 25, who pleaded guilty to theft by taking, repaid the money with two cashier’s checks after Wednesday’s sentencing in Troup Superior Court. She also has to spend 10 weekends in jail, pay a $2,500 fine and reimburse the county for her $300 public defender’s fee.

She has to pay $50 for each weekend in jail because “when you allow someone to use the jail like a hotel, you charge room and board,” Superior Court Judge Allen Keeble said.

Assistant District Attorney Melissa Himes said the defendant stole a $700 down payment on a vehicle. She repaid the $700 and was terminated, then offered to pay an additional $6,000 if the charges were dropped. An internal investigation determined the theft was $26,000, but a forensic audit arrived at a figure of $17,000, although it didn’t cover all of the five years she worked at the dealership.

“She was getting raises while actually stealing from them,” Himes said, recommending a sentence of two years in prison and eight years’ probation. “It was a violation of trust, not just a loss of money.”

Cash said she was “sorry it happened” and, “You’ll never hear my name again if I can just have another chance.”

“I kind of feel like you ought to go to prison, to be honest with you,” Keeble said, “but the jails are overflowing and you have to make choices here.”

In another court case, Casey O. Curbow, 29, of Toccoa was sentenced to 10 years’ probation and $36,000 restitution for selling a dump truck he was leasing.

Curbow, who pleaded guilty to theft by deception, sold the dump truck to Alex Longoria of West Point Road, who paid $32,000 over several months, in addition to $4,000 for repairs. Curbow quit paying on the lease and the leasing company showed up at Longoria’s place to repossess the truck. That’s when the police got involved.

Others sentenced after pleading guilty were:

— Demetrius L. Newsome, 38, of LaGrange; six years in prison for possession of cocaine, sale of marijuana, fleeing officers and driving on a suspended license.

— Trevor William Sturkie, 23, of LaGrange; five years in prison, five years’ probation and restitution of $246.60 for sale of methamphetamine and first-degree forgery.

— Ricky Dale Brookshire, 27, of Greenville; five years in prison for eight counts of entering an auto with intent to commit a theft.

— Frederick Joe Perry, 19, of LaGrange; two years in prison and three years’ probation for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

— Albert Carlos Putnam, 39, of LaGrange; two years in prison and eight years’ probation for stealing beer, gin, sunglasses and deodorant from Shell Mart on Vernon Street, Southside Package Store, Fuller’s Superette, Smile Mart and Piggly Wiggly.

— Jacqueline Shawanda McCauley, 40, of LaGrange; two years in prison and six years’ probation for aggravated battery.

— And Sarone Ratise Bridges, 33, of Manchester; 20 months in the county Correctional Institute, four years’ and four months’ probation, and a $750 fine for a residential burglary in the first block of Burgess Road.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.